LAHORE, March 26: The district and sessions judge on Wednesday granted bail to Shohrang Khan, one of the co-accused of Asif Ali Zardari, in a drug trafficking case.

The court directed him to file two bail bonds of Rs1 million each and ordered his release on bail, if not required in any other case. Shohrang Khan is the third accused in this case granted bail after Asif Zardari and Arif Baloch.

Zardari was not released following his arrest by the NAB officials while Arif Baloch has already been sentenced to death in another drug case, and his appeal against this sentence is pending with the Lahore High Court. Further proceedings will resume on April 5.

The court, while granting bail to Shohrang Khan, observed that the arguments raised by the accused for bail carried weight and warranted his release. It also observed that the prosecution did not rebut his contention that CIA Karachi SSP Mumtaz Burni, the only witness cited against him in the chargesheet, had already been declared hostile during the previous proceedings after he refused to own his statement made against Shohrang Khan before a judicial magistrate. The accused had argued that no incriminating evidence existed against him after the only witness against him was declared hostile.

In his statement before the judicial magistrate, the SSP alleged that he had recovered 100kg of hashish from Shohrang Khan, who claimed during investigation that he was being patronized by Asif Ali Zardari in trafficking. Mr Burni had been quoted by the magistrate as saying that he was pressured by Zardari to release Shohrang Khan, and was allegedly terminated from his services on Zardari’s orders for not releasing Shohrang. This statement was made part of prosecution evidence against the accused.

However, Burni while appearing as the prosecution witness, refused to own this statement, and denied having appeared before the judicial magistrate concerned to record this statement.

The court also accepted Shohrang Khan’s argument that the other two accused in the case had already been granted bail and he deserved the same relief.